Henryk Lipszyc

Henryk Lipszyc is a lecturer in the department of Japanese Studies at the Collegium Civitas, Warsaw. For many years he has taught the Japanese language and conducted courses on literature and performing arts of Japan in the Section of Japanese and Korean Studies of the Oriental Institute at the University of Warsaw. Upon graduating from the Oriental Institute, University of Warsaw with an MA degree in Japanese Studies, he was appointed assistant at the Section of Oriental Studies in the Polish Academy of Sciences. In 1972–1974 he continued post-graduate studies at the Department of Literature, Waseda University and he conducted research on Japanese performing arts at the Faculty of Comparative Literature in the Department of General Education at the Tokyo University. He has published numerous essays and articles on kabuki and Japanese contemporary theatre in both Polish and Japanese journals. His works as a translator include In Praise of Shadow by Jun’ichirō Tanizaki, The Structure of iki by Shūzō Kuki, as well as works of prose and dramas by contemporary authors like Kōbō Abe, Sakyō Komatsu, Yukio Mishima, Makoto Satō i Oriza Hirata. Between 1991 and 1996 he served as the Polish ambassador in Japan. In 2002 he was awarde the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star by the Japanese Government and in 2005 – the Golden Cross of Merit by the President of the Republic of Poland.